Growth 15

Growth 15
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

On a glorious sunny day, with my joyful bird characters twittering in my mind, I just paint and draw for fun.

Growth 14

Growth 14
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

After a critical period in life, we all change in some way. The renewed woman has grown spiritually: she gratefully cradles the bird, which represents the gift of life. She dwells in this one moment, content.

Growth 13

Growth 13
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

The sun came out today. Recovery. Warmth and sunshine. A flower blooms unexpectedly. I have been using up old tubes of paint for these pages, and this ancient crusty cadmium yellow was full of lumps. Even my chemo-numbed fingers can feel them, scattered like a code or a lunar landscape. Texture=Sensory Input, an artistic process that is felt, like the quick gestural image.

Growth 12

Growth 12
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

A quiet dream. Gentle ideas flutter about, and remain.

Growth 11

Growth 11
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Chaotic growth. Brilliant intrusion, the beginning of something new.

Growth 10

Growth 10
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Growth 10 about dichotomy; after illness and trauma, the brain divides in two. One part carries on as normally as possible, avoiding the thoughts of the other part. Cancer is always there in the other half, waiting to reappear, and potentially treacherous cells hover in between, waiting to change. You are always waiting for the next test. You are always in your little world, thinking of other things, normal things.

Growth 9

Growth 9
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Somewhere in the new green growth, an idea is forming, still vague and distant.

Growth 8

Growth 8
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Lately my mother and I have enjoyed looking through her sketchbooks. She keeps finding more...and she has a considerable number of them...and we pore over them, laughing and exclaiming. They are mostly filled with fish characters, designs and motifs. Some of them are whimsical, some extraordinarily beautiful. They spin around each other, changing into other things and back again, and she arranges them in complex patterns. Her sketches always fill my head with ideas, as my own characters try out some fish poses and fish ideas, waiting to take their places in my new paintings.

Growth 7

Growth 7
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Here are the cancer cells again, seemingly under an impenetrable mountain. Yet beyond the burden and work of fighting this malevolence, a new world appears. The other side. Something to aim for, hope and light. And much nicer colors, too. Give me back my yellows and blues!

Growth 6

Growth 6
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Blessed cleansing rest, letting everything pour in and pour out. This is an important part of growth.